Barn Dreams
by MarsTsar
Summary: Peridot learns how to sleep from Lapis and Steven. Takes place between 'Kindergarten Kid' and 'Room for Ruby'.
1. Chapter 1

"Peridot?! Lapis?!", yelled Steven, running as quickly as he could towards the barn. Peridot had messaged him to say that there was something wrong with Lapis. Something about her not responding to her. He'd never been so happy to have that war pad.

"Steven!", cried Peridot, bursting out of the barn door. She was sweating and tense, eyebrows bunched up in worry. Steven slowed down on the approach to the barn, following her inside "It's Lapis, she won't move and she's making this terrible noise!"

Steven stopped, looking over towards a hammock hung up to one side, holding Lapis inside, loudly snoring. For a moment he was confused, but he quickly gave a relieved giggle. "Oh Peridot, Lapis is just sleeping!"

"Sleep...ing?", asked Peridot, still in an alert stance but looking confusedly at Steven. "Are you sure?"

Steven looked again at Lapis, noticing a bit of drool running down the side of her open mouth, and nodded, "Yeah. How did you not know? You've seen me and Amethyst do it all the time at the Temple."

Peridot also looked at Lapis, and put her hands to the side of her head, the reassurance that Lapis wasn't in danger giving way to annoyance at the snores. "Yes, but neither you or Amethyst were so unresponsive, or so...loud."

Pumpkin ran between the two of them towards the hammock, attempting to jump into it but failing to reach. Steven cocked his head at the sight, "Awww."

Peridot walked towards the hammock, picking up Pumpkin and holding him up to Lapis's face, which he then proceeded to lick. Lapis was cut mid-snore, shaking her head and giggling at the feeling.

"Oh! Ah!", mumbled Lapis, "Sta...stop it..." Finally opening her eyes, her face lit up at seeing Pumpkin. "Oh, Pumpkin!" Pumpkin jumped out of Peridots hands and fell into Lapis's arms, causing the hammock to swing.

"Well, good to see everything's fine here!", said Steven, walking up to the trio.

"Steven!", greeted Lapis, rubbing Pumpkin on his belly, before she put a hand to her own head, "Wait, what did I do? I remember everything going fuzy..."

"You had a nap!", answered Steven, "Humans have them when they're tired, you went to sleep!"

"Sleep? Is that...ok to do?"

Steven saw that Lapis had a look of concern. They had learned so much about life on Earth since they came, yet they both had so much still is discover. Lapis in particular seemed to worry about doing something worry. He had a good feeling, though, as he always had about showing the things Earth had to offer to them. "It's one of the best things to do! Humans need to do it in order to recharge after a day, but we also have dreams. They're sorta like stories that we write in our heads. Did you dream, Lapis?"

Lapis set down her hand, looking towards the wall. "Hmm. I sat in the hammock, not really thinking of anything, and I closed my eyes and...well, I'm not sure what I felt. It seemed...calm." She turned back to Steven, giving a smile, "It was nice!"

"It would need to be.", interrupted Peridot, not seeming too impressed. "I read that a human could spend a third of a planetary revolution performing this 'sleep'. And inefficient use of time, projects of a much more productive nature could be done if 'sleep' was disregarded."

"Like what?", asked Steven.

"Like..." Peridot rubbed her chin, before gasping in realisation, a smile creeping onto her face. "Lapis, I think it might be time."

Lapis raised an eyebrow. "Time for- oh! Do you think we practiced enough?"

Steven looked uncertain, "What are you guys talking about?"

Peridot grabbed him by the shoulders. "Lapis and I have only been applying our skills as morpists in order to tell a story through action! Sit over there with Pumpkin, I'll get our appearance modifiers and tools!", she ran out to the back of the barn, giggling to herself on the way.

Lapis laughed quietly. "Get comfy, Steven, we've been practicing for a few months, now."

"One-Eye Anders!", bellowed Peridot, standing on her paint-can stilts, wearing an old admirals hat and holding a wooden sword, "Your days of thievery have ended! These oceans belong to the King, and all who sail on them are his subjects!"

Lapis, holding her own sword and wearing an eyepatch and a tricorne, responds, with a particularly even and neutral voice. "Avast, ye scurvy dog. A men be free, when he at sea."

The two begin to swing at eachother with their swords. Steven sits on the floor in front of them with Pumpkin between his legs, in rapt attention.

Several hours pass, and Steven is still in rapt attention, though bags have formed under his eyes. The light outside has become noticeably darker. Pumpkin is beside him, sleeping on his back.

"Oh, for it to end so!", cried Peridot, laying in Lapis's arms, holding a sword at the side of her torso to make it look like she was stabbed, "You taught me many things, One-Eye Anders, above all you taught me to live." She then went limp and closed her eyes, "Bleh!"

Lapis looks up, "He be dead, and I gone killed him."

"Beautiful!", Steven stands up, clapping in applause, "You were both amazing!"

Lapis blushed. "Thanks, Steven." She looked down at Peridot, her head sitting on her lap. "C'mon, Peridot, stand up and bow."

Peridot didn't move.

"Peridot?", probed Steven, standing up, wobbling into a straight position. "Ow, leg's asleep." He walked over to them. "Is she alright?"

Both stared at Peridot in silence. Then, they heard a miniscule snooze. Steven gasped.

"Lapis, she's sleeping!", he whispered with excitement.

"Wow.", replied Lapis. "I told her we maybe didn't need seven swordfights. I had no idea she could even get tired."

Steven went to the hammock, picking up a pillow, then returned to them. He offered it to Lapis. "Put her head on this."

Peridot mumbled and continued snoozing as Lapis slipped the pillow under her head while pulling away her leg, and then stood beside Steven, who looked up at her.

"How are you and Peridot?", he asked.

Lapis looked down at Steven, then ruffled his hair, causing him to snicker. "Neither of us have been better, Steven. It's hard to think that-"

Lapis stopped when she saw Peridot's gem beginning to glow. Both of them took a step back as a green light shone out of it and formed a disc in the air above Peridot.

"Steven, what's happening?"

The flat disc darkened in patches, and shapes began to form."

"I...I think we're seeing her dream."

The shapes morphed and merged until finally producing an image of a stern-faced agate.

" _5XG! You are the peridot managing this cut! Tell me, what sort of peridot wastes the resources of Our Diamonds, in a time of unprecedented scarcity?!"_

 _From the first-person perspective of Peridot, it could be seen that she made a salute with two limb enhancers attached to her hands. She replied, "My Agate! We were forced to drill short on this cut due to a fault line! The quality of the result could hardly be-"_

" _I don't want excuses, 5XG, I want admission of your own uselessness! This colony has nearly been exhausted, and yet you waste its potential on manufacturing worthless Off Colors!"_

" _But My Agate, this cut has only one malform! And even it is of a regular shape, it's practically good for duty! It's the best that could've been done from-"_

 _The agate formed a whip and swung it at Peridot, hitting her on the side of the head and sending her to the ground. A limb enhancer hand cradles where she was hit._

"What is this?", said Steven, looking down at the sleeping Peridot, who was visibly trembling. Lapis held a hand to her mouth, speechless. "Oh, Peridot."

" _You will speak what and when you are called upon to speak! And you will not entertain the idea of passing Off Colors as satisfactory produce! Must you be told yet again of the Beta Kindergarten during the Rebellion?!"_

" _N-no...", muttered Peridot, barely audible._

" _Peridots far more talented and gifted than you were forced to produce gems for Homeworld as fast as they could! They hoped that the colony could be saved if they relied on numbers, even if they produced abominations they would produce countless scores of them! But it didn't work, they trusted in Imperfection and Imperfection cost Homeworld a colony! That is why any gem that spares a thought on errors and mistakes are themselves a mistake, and must be corrected or destroyed! Do I make myself clear?!"_

 _Peridot looked back up to the agate. "Ye...yes."_

"' _Yes', what?!"_

" _Yes, My Agate."_

 _The agate took a deep breath. "Good. Be sure to not make another mistake again. Anyway, this batch must be taken to Training, you will see to it that those adequate specimens get there."_

 _Peridot got off the ground, giving another salute. "My Agate."_

" _And not before you deal with that hideous runt you created."_

" _My Agate.", Peridot turned and went through a door, meeting with another peridot and an amethyst, one that is far too short._

" _Agates, am I right?", huffed the other peridot, flicking through a holographic screen. Peridot just gave her a nod, and turned to the amethyst._

" _You're coming with me.", ordered Peridot at the amethyst._

 _The amethyst simply looked at her, "Who was that you're talking to?"_

" _A clod, that's who."_

" _What's a clod?"_

 _Peridot rubbed the side of her head. "Ehh, nevermind. Just come with me."_

" _Where we going?"_

" _I'll tell you when we get there."_

"I think we need to wake Peridot up, Steven.", Lapis gripped onto the shoulder of his t-shirt. "There is something very wrong about this."

"Wait.", Steven put his hand on Lapis's. "I need to see this."

" _...so, I don't know about you, but me and the rest of them were all like 'Hey, you look cool' and 'I really want to kick someones butt' and 'Let's flex and see who can pick up the largest boulder' and it's weird how we all like know what those things are."_

" _Uh huh.", nodded Peridot, whose vision went to a large machine packed onto the side of a wall, which in its centre had a anvil-like surface below a large sharpened point on a verticle pillar._

"Oh stars.", gasped Lapis.

" _Wow, that looks cool. What is-"_

 _Before she could finish, Peridot pulled out a gem destabiliser and jammed it into the amethyst's back._

" _AHHHHHHHHHHH-"_

 _She poofed into a cloud of disseminating hard light, her gem clinking on the floor._

"Peridot!", shouted Steven, too frozen in horror to approach the distressed-looking Peridot.

" _What does she expect me to do?", Peridot picked up the gem, and started to walk to the machine. "A bad location makes bad gems, there's a reason this is the last place on the planet we chose to harvest."_

 _Placing the gem onto the anvil, she tapped at a control panel to the side. A glass scream went up in front of the space the gem was put in, the machine began to whirr, and the pillar slammed down, the point hitting the gem directly, shattering it into countless pieces._

"AHHHHHHHHHHH-", Peridot screamed, jolting awake. She held her head in her hands, shaking and breathing heavily.

Steven approached her, "Peridot! It's fine! It's just a-"

Peridot looked at them both, tears in her eyes. "You don't...I couldn't..."

Steven heard the barn door shake, and he turned just quickly enough to see Lapis run out.

"Lapis!"


	2. Chapter 2

Steven ran across the barn and out of the door. He saw Lapis standing with her back to him about twenty feet away, hunched over with her hands on her knees and shaking. "Lapis?"

Lapis turned her head upward slightly, "I had nearly forgotten she could sound like that."

Steven swallowed, slowly walking towards her. "It's alright, most dreams aren't real, and that was all a long time ag-"

Lapis fell back into a sitting position, head turned up the sky. Steven took the last couple of steps to see her face. Her jaw was trembling.

"It's terrifying, Steven. I had to be taken out of it to see the truth, but Homeworld has done awful things, is full of awful people.", she cupped her head in her hands, "And to think I tried to steal a planets ocean to get back to it."

Steven looked up at the patch of sky Lapis was looking at. She could see the galaxy that Pearl once told him Homeworld was part of. He put his hand on her shoulder, giving a smile.

"Hey, let's go inside. Peridot needs us right-"

They could hear Pumpkin barking from inside the barn. Both Steven and Lapis turned in shock, and ran back inside.

"Peridot?", Lapis asked, to the empty room, "Peridot, I'm sorry I ran! I was scared, but I was being stupid!"

"Peridot!", shouted Steven. Pumpkin was jumping at one of the hole in the barn wall. Peridot was nowhere to be seen. The two ran up to the hole, not seeing any movement outside.

"We have to find her, Lapis! She might hurt herself!"

"Right!", Lapis nodded, turning to Pumpkin. "Pumpkin, stay!" she commanded, pointing a finger at it. Pumpkin responded with a whine, but stopped jumping and laid down. "Grab my arms, Steven!"

Grabbing on, Steven saw a set of wings form behind Lapis, and he felt the jolt on his arms as they took off out of the hole, pulling up out into the sky.

They touched down in a clearing in a forest, Steven rubbing the joints in his arms. "It's been a few hours, and not a sign of her. Are you sure we've checked everywhere?"

"I think.", replied Lapis, scratching her head. "She normally runs only as far as the windmill, but this isn't normal. Oh, but she could've been hurt, poofed by a scared cow or something. We'd never see her gem in the gra-"

"Lapis!", Steven shouted, "Let's just take a deep breath for a minute, and think."

Lapis looked at him, and sighed. "Alright."

They looked around the clearing, lit only by the Moon. Lapis sat down again. Steven looked at the ground.

"So that's how gems get shattered, huh?"

Lapis looked at him. "I guess. Before I...came to Earth, I saw it done in public...manually. Although those were always for gems that stepped out of line, not Off Colors." She gave a bitter laugh. "I didn't think that could've ever happened to me."

Steven frowned. "And as long as I'm here, it isn't going to happen to you, or to anyone else on Earth."

Lapis's eyes still betrayed fear, but she gave him a smile. "Thank you, Steven."

A rumbled came from Steven's pocket. He pulled out his phone.

"It's Amethyst. Peridot's at the Temple!"

Lapis jumped back up to a stand, "That's a relief! But what is she doing there?"

Steven tapped away at the phone, soon getting a chirp. "She's with Garnet, Amethyst doesn't know why."

The two hopped off the warp pad and into the front room of the Temple. "Peridot, where are-"

Amethyst was sitting on the couch, looking concerned. "She's with Garnet, in the Burning Room. She...she seemed kinda messed up. She screamed when she saw me. Is she alright?"

Steven turned to the door, which was open at the Burning Room, the glow of the lava visible from where he stood. "I think so, we just need to talk."

Steven and Lapis entered the Burning Room. Garnet sat in a meditative position, back turned to them. Steven stepped forward.

"Garnet? Where's Pe-"

"An 'eep' squeaked from where Garnet sat. A head of blond hair peeked out from in front of her to see them, and retreated back in. "Go away."

Lapis took a step. "I'm sorry about running. I panicked. Peridot, please talk to me. Me and Steven."

"You were right to run.", replied Peridot, from in front of Garnet. "After what I did to you."

"Peridot.", Garnet spoke this time, "What you've talked about with me, you need to discuss it with Lapis and Steven."

"But-!", Peridot began to protest, but then grumbled. "I guess."

Steven and Lapis saw a bit of weight shift around Garnet, as Peridot stood up from sitting inbetween her legs. She slid sideways out to face them, holding a bubbled gem in her hands. Lapis reflexively tried to pull back, but fought against it.

Steven asked, "Who is that you've got?"

Peridot looked down at the bubble. "Jasper."

Steven and Lapis looked at eachother, both with uncertainty, and walked towards them.

Garnet stood up, and placed a hand on Peridots shoulder, "I'll won't be far. Remember, they are your friends, you can trust them like you can trust me.

Peridot looked up to her, "Ok." Garnet walked to the wall and sat down, away from them.

Lapis grabbed Peridots shoulder, mindful to not use too much force. "Don't ever scare me like that again."

Peridot kept her eyes to the floor. "You don't know what I saw."

"Actually...", Steven interrupted, "We saw it all. Your gem projected it onto the ceiling."

Peridot looked shocked, and blushed. "So why did you try to find me, if you saw what I did?"

Lapis lightly shook her. "Because while I convinced myself otherwise for a stupid moment, a dream doesn't change you from what you are right now."

Peridot shook her head. "It felt so real. I thought I did it all over again."

Steven squeezed at her arm. "So, your dream...it really happened?" Steven spoke the question more than he asked it, already confident at the answer.

"I don't know how many kindergartens I've worked at. I've lost count. And the more kindergartens we started, the worse the conditions, the more 'errors' we made. How many did we shatter? That _I_ shattered? How many destroyed while I'm still here? I was made to be a monster."

Lapis took her hands off of Peridot. "Yes, you were."

The other looked at her.

"So was I. I was made to cut open land, strip away earth and leave entire planets dry. I would say that makes me pretty monstrous. But I don't do that anymore. I collect leaves, and watch sunsets, and make things with you. I _live_ , something I didn't think I could do until I started doing it. And you and Steven taught me how."

Steven nodded, "Yeah. And I've done some pretty messed up things too, and that's _without_ knowing why I was made. So, I guess we're all a little bad, it's a question of knowing if you have a choice or not."

Peridot turned to Steven, and then looked down at the bubble. "Did she have a choice?"

Steven looked at Lapis, who was quietly shaking. Lapis answered for Steven, "Steven tried to help her. She refused it."

"We both came to Earth trying to destroy it. I only worked with the Crystal Gems to save myself from the Cluster. It very easily could've been her that was saved, and me corrupted."

"Well,", Steven started, "If that happened, then there wouldn't be an Earth anymore. Nobody not even Garnet can see how things are going to work out, so we...just have to work with what we get. We'll try to help those we can."

Peridot placed a hand on the top of the bubble. "Even her?"

Lapis place her own hand on top of Peridot's, giving a smile. "Even her."

Peridot looked at Lapis, and smiled, the two of them raising the bubble back to where it was.

The four walked out, causing Amethyst to get up from the coach. "Jeeze, P, I was getting worried about-"

Peridot ran towards Amethyst, wrapping her arms around her. Shocked for a moment, Amethyst returned the favour. "Woah! Who'll guess at what crazy thing you'll do next!"

Star-Zoom at Garnet, pushing back her visor.

"I could name a couple."


End file.
